The present invention relates to an article retrieval and storage system. More particularly this invention concerns such systems which can be used for the storage in a relatively limited floor space of a large quantity of relatively small articles such as books, electronic parts, or the like.
In my above-cited copending application Ser. No. 680,876 I disclose a storing and retrieving method wherein each of the articles is held in a respective holder. A first group of the holders is arrayed in a first train displaceable about a first annular track and having a pair of ends spaced apart by a gap. A second group of holders separate from the first group is arrayed in a second train displaceable about a second annular track to one side of the first track. One of these tracks lies within the other track. Access can be gained to the holders of the second group from a fixed station to the other side of the first track by displacing the first train into a position with its gap aligned with the station and by displacing the second train into a position with the desired holder aligned with the gap and therethrough with the station. Thus access may be had to this one holder and the article therein from the station through the gap. Furthermore access may be had to any of the holders of the second train simply by displacing the desired holder into alignment with the access station.
Thus with the system according to my earlier invention it is possible from an access station inside or outside a plurality of annular tracks to gain access to any of a multiplicity of holders arrayed in several trains each on a respective one of the tracks. Such a system may have, for instance, seven such tracks each of which has a respective train of holders with a gap in the train so that access can be had through each train to the train on the other side of it.
In accordance with yet another feature of this previous invention each train has two subgroups of holders, an inner group accessible only from the inside of the respective track and an outer subgroup only accessible from the outside of the respective track. Thus the number of addresses or locations at which the various articles can be stored is virtually doubled with a given floor space.
According to this earlier invention the tracks are circularly concentric. The access station is provided outside the concentric array of tracks. Thus it is possible to gain access to the articles in any one of the tracks merely by displacing it and it alone into a position aligned with the aisle formed by the gaps of all of the trains. In an arrangement wherein each of the trains has an inner and outer subgroup of holders as described immediately above, the operator need merely walk down the aisle beyond the track on which the train whose inner group he wishes access to runs. Once radially inside this track a starter device, such as a simple start or enter switch, is pressed in order to displace the train on the track radially outside the operator into a position with the desired holder aligned with the aisle formed by the aligned gaps.
According to yet another feature of my previous invention the holders of each subgroup are arranged in vertical rows and an elevator is provided for displacing an operator vertically up and down adjacent each row of each subgroup. These elevators may be provided on tracks extending vertically along an end of each of the trains in addition to at the access station so that an operator may be raised to a position horizontally in line with the desired holder.
According to another feature of the invention of my application Ser. No. 680,876 a third group of holders is arrayed in a stationary row between two tracks. This row may be formed with a gap aligned with the access station. In addition means may be provided on the trains and/or on the stationary row which can be vertically aligned into juxtaposition with a respective holder and can serve to automatically remove a holder and/or an article from an adjacent track or row. Thus the system can be set up automatically to place the articles to be stored in respective storage locations and to remove them therefrom and deliver them to the access station.
According to yet another feature of this invention a plurality of such storage systems may themselves be mounted on a single annular track so as to be displaceable past a single access station. Thus it is possible to greatly increase the number of storage locations accessible from a single access station. Such an arrangement is extremely useful in systems wherein a single person must have access to a great quantity of different articles, albeit one at a time. This is the case in a court, for instance, where a single clerk must be able readily to obtain any of a vast number of docket files, corporation registration papers, or the like.
Furthermore in my above-cited copending application Ser. No. 691,555 I disclose a storage system comprising a floor support having an upright axis, a plurality of generally cylindrical arrays of receptacles arranged in horizontally annular and vertical rows standing on the support with the arrays nested one within the other and all concentric with the axis. Each array has a radially throughgoing and vertical slot and is provided with means for rotating independently of the other arrays on the support about the axis.
According to another feature of this earlier invention each of the receptacles has a closed side turned toward the axis and an open side turned away from the axis. Each of the gaps is at least as wide as one of the vertical rows of the receptacles. Thus it is possible to gain access to any of the receptacles from an access station located radially outside the nest of arrays of the receptacles. The gaps of the receptacles are normally all aligned and in order to gain access to any receptacle the respective array is merely rotated about its axis until the desired receptacle is aligned with the aisle formed by the radially aligned gaps of the other arrays.
According to another feature of my earlier invention a cylindrical wall is secured to the support and surrounds the array. This wall is formed with a vertically elongated opening or door alignable radially with the gaps. Thus the articles stored in the receptacles are all well protected within the device. Furthermore a lamp is provided in at least one of the gaps so that a person reaching in for an article in one of the receptacles can readily see what he or she is doing.
Each of the arrays is provided with an annular and endless plate bridging the respective gap. Such plates are provided on the bottom of all of the arrays and, in the case of an automatic arrangement, are also provided on the top of each array. In a manual system hand grips or the like are provided on the top plate in order to allow a user readily to manually rotate the desired array into a position with the desired receptacle aligned with the gaps of the other arrays.
In accordance with another feature of my earlier invention a plurality of motors is secured to the roof of a housing fixed to the floor support and each have a roller engaging the top of a respective array. Thus each motor can rotate the respective array in either direction around its rotation axis. Such an arrangement is combined with control means that is connected to a sensor for ascertaining the angular position of each of the arrays and to all of the motors so that this control means can operate any of these motors to move any of the arrays into any desired position.
The arrays are all rotatable on rollers which are received within circularly angular and concentric grooves formed in the floor of the support.
Two such systems may be mounted in a single housing with a single input station having a keyboard provided for both devices or a single keyboard may be provided for the two devices. It is also possible to mount one such set of arrays on a post carried on a roller-type base so that it can be displaced to a location convenient to a user. Such a base may be vertically adjustable in order to allow a user to gain access to the arrangement from a sitting or standing position. Such an arrangement can, for instance, be used in a parts-supply store having a multiplicity of separate small parts which must be cataloged and readily accessible.
These systems represent considerable advances over the prior-art storage arrangements, however, they are often only applicable to certain floor plans. More particularly most of them can only be efficiently used when fitted in a cylindrical space.